ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in hospital settings: prescribing and transcribing--2007

Results of the 2007 ASHP national survey of pharmacy practice in hospital settings that pertain to prescribing and transcribing are presented.

A stratified random sample of pharmacy directors at 1264 general and children's medical-surgical hospitals in the United States were surveyed by mail. SMG Marketing Group, Inc., supplied data on hospital characteristics; the survey sample was drawn from SMG's hospital database.

The response rate was 42.0%. The use of nearly all formulary management techniques has declined since 2001 in favor of the use of clinical practice guidelines to promote rational drug therapy. Retrospective methods to improve prescribing are being replaced by concurrent methods including the provision of drug information to prescribers by pharmacists, consultations with prescribers, and the continued gradual adoption of computerized prescriber-order-entry systems with decision support. The trends toward more electronic communication and ease of reference availability and away from resource-intensive methods continue to grow. Accreditation standards prompted the implementation of safe medication practices as shown by the rapid increase in medication reconciliation and the reading back of oral orders to improve prescribing and transcribing.

The 2007 ASHP survey results indicate that pharmacists are responding to changes in the health care system to find appropriate ways to improve medication use at the prescribing and transcribing steps of the medication-use system.